Posts Tagged ‘Heinlein’

In the last blog post, I had asked what other themes would work with the Cosmic Patrol ruleset and, man, there were some really great ideas. Everything from a retro video game world to gangsters to the wild west to time traveling – they were all great.

The brainstorming of ideas made me think of Robert Heinlein’s “The Number of the Beast.” I’ll be honest, it’s not an easy novel to get through (Tor.com has it listed as one of Heinlein’s worst novels) but it was so packed with supremely awesome ideas that it’s on my shelf alongside Brackett, Burroughs, Pratchett and Cook.

To summarize real quick – Heinlein has a character create a continua device that allows the protagonists to travel on all six dimensions of the universe, including to fictional realities like Barsoom and a world exactly like the “normal” one except that the letter “M” doesn’t exist. The number of realities/parallel universes/alternate worlds is (66)6 which is a Very Large Number. Google says it equals 1.0314425e+28.

I love that idea. And it’s probably why I love RPGs so much. Visit a different world, do cool stuff and have a lot of fun. The ideas you guys threw at me really reinforced my belief in a flexible, non-crunchy game and I wanted to say thanks!

The Moooooon

Development on the next book is going pretty well. In about two weeks I’ll start the Design-A-Moon-Room contest and post the rules. We’ll be putting two rooms up for grabs, so start brainstorming now. If you need a little guidance, think of each room as a short, open-ended Mission Brief. The Patrolmen should get in, deal with a threat and be given a choice of two or three exits.

A little R&R

On a personal note, I’ll be on a secret mission for the next two weeks and probably won’t be around the forums much (or the web at all, actually). Just an FYI.

If you like Cosmic Patrol and haven’t checked out the forums, you really should. Lots of great ideas and discussions going on there.

Thanks and see ya next time!

P.S. Please, someone, write a TV show about the lawyers at Brackett, Burroughs, Pratchett and Cook. It’s a guaranteed hit!